Khan Academy at Marlborough School

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Khan Academy at Marlborough School

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Khan Academy at Marlborough School

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DR. CHRIS TALONE: Marlborough is an all-girls private school,
[an] urban day school, in Los Angeles.
We have 530 girls at the school,
grades 7 through 12.
My classes are small.
The girls are motivated.
I really feel like Marlborough provides me
a place where I can practice the art of teaching,
without interference.
Even with all of the resources that we have,
year after year,
my department struggles with retention.
In other words, "What exactly are we doing
that is allowing these kids to score well on tests,
but not retain the information?
INDIA YAFFE: I've always been
a fairly competent math student.
So, when I would come across stuff
that wasn’t familiar to me,
or that I had trouble with,
I could kind of just sort of muscle through it.
But, I have a little brother,
and he really was kind of struggling in his math class.
We learn very differently.
I couldn’t really teach him
[in] the way that he needed to be taught.
So, I was messing around on the Internet,
and I found this web site called “Khan Academy.”
And I showed it to him. And he loved it.
And then I started having trouble
in one of my classes.
And I said, “Why don’t I use Khan?”
And I looked at it, and it worked for me.
And I said, “This is so crazy.
Because it worked for him, and it worked for me.
We’re completely different people.
We learn totally differently.”
And I had the opportunity, in January of 2011,
to write this essay for something
they do at my school called the Garren [sp?] prize.
You write an essay about the living American
who you’d most like to meet;
and the winner gets to meet him.
I wrote about Sal Khan and I ended up winning.
DR TALONE: India was scheduled to meet Sal Khan last June.
And she asked me if I’d be willing to go with her.
He talked to me about the idea
of a mixed-level math class
where kids from all different ages
would be in the same room with the same teacher.
It would involve peer teaching,
group work, projects.
And they would get their instruction online
through Khan Academy.
And I just—my eyes lit up.
So, I thought, this might address
the retention issue that we had had.
So, he asked me if I would try it,
and I said, “Sure.”
The first day that I had my Khan Academy class,
I could not believe how engaged they were.
The bell rang,
and nobody wanted to leave my classroom.
So, I had to actually tell them,
"You have to go to your next class."
"You cannot continue working on your math here."
So, that's when I knew,
"Okay, we're onto something here."
MADELEINE SIMON: I’d never loved math.
I actually kind of hated it.
Math was my least favorite subject.
And then I did Khan, and I actually started to enjoy it.
And my grades started to improve.
DR. TALONE: Basically, how I manage it is
I look at the content
that they're supposed to be learning
in each of those courses,
and design a content sheet for them
where I make a playlist
for what they should look at on Khan Academy.
And then I'll give them three weeks,
and I'll say "Go."
And I circulate and help them when they need it.
And then, what happens, kind of organically,
is kids end up tutoring each other.
So, the algebra 2 girls might tutor the geometry girls,
when they get stuck.
Or the calculus girls might help a pre-calculus girl.
Or even a pre-calculus girl
might help a pre-algebra girl.
I can’t emphasize to you how much more engaged
these students are in this style of learning.
MADELEINE: Before Khan, no one ever asked me for math help.
I was definitely not the person they came to.
But now I feel like, given my new confidence,
and my new skills,
people are willing to ask me for help.
And I'm not afraid to ask them,
because they have more confidence and skills.
So, it’s changed the dynamic. We're kind of all equals.
INDIA: I feel as though, through Khan,
I’ve understood that it’s not enough to just kind of get something;
You have to really get it.
Because, if it’s fine to do well on a test;
but I’m trying to do well and to understand it fully.
Not for two or three weeks.
I want to get it for the rest of my life.
DR. TALONE: I've learned that sometimes I underestimate
what the kids can do.
And when their left to their own and devices,
they do a lot more
than what I thought that they could do.
So, having the kids be in control of their learning,
and me facilitating that,
it’s just completely changed my role for those girls.
MADELEINE: I have to say my favorite part
is just being able to learn at my own pace.
Before, I always felt behind.
I don’t have to be worried
about holding the class back or getting too [far] ahead.
Which is an amazing thing.

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At 5:31, how is the moon large enough to block the sun? Isn't the sun way larger?

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When naming a variable, it is okay to use most letters, but some are reserved, like 'e', which represents the value 2.7831...

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At 2:33, Sal says "double bonds" but should say "single bonds."

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